Report Says PA Gas Drilling Taxes Are Low

A new report from a nonpartisan office of the state legislature says that Pennsylvania's taxes on the natural gas drilling boom are among the lowest in the nation.

The figures released Thursday by the Independent Fiscal Office found that Pennsylvania is the only state with significant production that doesn't impose a severance tax based on the volume of gas produced.

The report found that a Pennsylvania well that began producing in 2014 will be taxed at an effective tax rate of at most 1.6 percent. By comparison a similar well in West Virginia will be taxed at over seven percent, and a Texas well at 4.6 percent.

The Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry group, says the analysis is flawed because it doesn't include other factors, such as corporate taxes.